Building Team Culture

Scope

Covers

• Diagnosing the current culture (strengths, gaps, “sacred cows”, and where psychological safety breaks)
• Articulating culture as an operating system (principles → behaviors → decision rules)
• Defining team norms (communication, meetings, decisions, feedback, conflict)
• Designing a lightweight rituals/cadence map that reinforces the culture
• Planning rollout + reinforcement (coaching model, hiring/onboarding hooks, measurement)

When to use

• “Create a culture code / values and behaviors for my team.”
• “Our team norms are unclear—write decision-making + communication norms.”
• “Psychological safety is low—propose concrete practices and rituals to fix it.”
• “We’re scaling fast—help us preserve what works and change what doesn’t.”
• “I’m a new leader—help me listen first and then evolve the culture.”

When NOT to use